A Review of ‘Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online’

In Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online, Marwick and Lewis (2017) of the Data & Society Research Institute described the agents of media manipulation, their modus operandi, motivators, and how they’ve taken advantage of the vulnerability of online media. The researchers described the manipulators as right-wing extremists (RWE), also known as alt-right, who run the gamut from sexists (including male sexual conquest communities) to white nationalists to anti-immigration activists and even those who rebuke RWE identification but whose actions confer such classification. These manipulators rally behind a shared belief on online forums, blogs, podcasts, and social media through pranks or ruinous trolling anonymity, usurping participatory culture methods (networking, humor, mentorship) for harassment, and competitive cyber brigades that earn status by escalating bullying such as the sharing of a target’s private information.

Marwick and Lewis reported on how RWE groups have taken advantage of certain media tactics to gain viewers’ attention such as novelty and sensationalism, as well as their interactions with the public via social media, to manipulate it for their agenda. For instance, YouTube provides any individual with a portal and potential revenue to contribute to the media ecosystem. The researchers shared the example of the use of YouTube by conspiracy theorists, which can be used as fodder for extremist networks as conspiracies generally focus on loss of control of important ideals, health, and safety.

One tactic they’re using is to package their hate in a way that appeals to millennials. They use attention hacking to increase their status such as hate speech, which is later recanted as trickster trolling all the while gaining the media’s attention for further propagation

SHARED MODUS OPERANDI

Marwick and Lewis reported the following shared tactics various RWE groups use for online exploits:

Ambiguity of persona or ideology,

Baiting a single or community target’s emotions,

Bots for amplification of propaganda that appears legitimately from a real person,

“…Embeddedness in Internet culture… (p. 28),”

Exploitation of young male rebelliousness,

Hate speech and offensive language (under the guise of First Amendment protections),

Irony to cloak ideology and/or skewer intended targets,

Memes for stickiness of propaganda,

Mentorship in argumentation, marketing strategies, and subversive literature in their communities of interest,

Networked and agile groups,

“…Permanent warfare… (p.12)” call to action,

Pseudo scholarship to deceive readers,

“…Quasi moral arguments… (p. 7)”

Shocking images for filtering network membership,

“Trading stories up the chain… (p. 38)” from low-level news outlets to mainstream, and

Germany to implement law of editorial responsibility for Social Media

The companies will also be forced to introduce an official complaint structure, obliging platforms to monitor their content and improve their real-time reporting protocols.

Platforms failing to react within 24-hours face €50 million fines. The challenge to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr, VK, Vimeo, Flickr and the like are facing a major technological challenge which could come with significant costs.

The law adopted in June 2017, went into force in October 2017 and will be enforced from January 2018. The new law implies hiring hundreds of more employees.